"Don''t give up!"


    I dug my fingernails into my knees and shook my head, fighting through the dizziness and nausea. Kali''s voice echoing from the back of my head had brought me back, but not the stress was fading, and so were all the feelings that it brought. ??


    I was finally able to sit back up straight and look back at Fireden, whose smile was set to crack his face in half. Now the Fire no longer bothered me, and I was able to sit in peace as I waited for the Fire Elemental to continue.


    "Fire, Water, Earth, Air, these are the four that you have met, but there are three more. The Element of Life is Light, for where there is light, there can be life. The same is true for Death, the Element of Shadow. While some can survive without it, in a ce where there is no light, there is no warmth, and nothing can survive. Basic information, I know, but these elements act in the same way as they behave, which is important to know when dealing with them," Fireden exined, and I was finally able to speak up.


    "So I will have to deal with them ordingly, but why weren''t these two, and the other unnamed one not with Mex?" I asked, and Fireden nodded appreciatively.


    "Good, you look much better now, and you can talk. As for Mex, that is why I exined the two different personalities of Light and Shadow; the two are nearly impossible to get to work together. As for thest element, Energy, it can''t be tamed until you have mastered the first six because Elemental Energy is the source of the six elements," Fireden exined, and I started to get a bigger picture of everything, but I had more questions.


    "Grovel said that thend was alive, but I don''t think I quite understand what he means. He told me that thend forced the monsters to attack the demons but then attacked themselves when they learned what the demons were doing. How does thend do that?" I asked, and Fireden nodded with a grin.


    "I am really starting to like you, Kazz; you seem to know how to ask the right questions. Once you leave this ind, you will start to feel the changes in the world; not like visions, but you will be able to sense turmoil and strife. So yes, the world is alive, and it is abination of all the Primal Elements, and they are conscious, and they will fight back. The monsters and all things in this world are our creations, except for the demons. They are a gue brought to this world by some unseen force. Since then, some have learned to live with thend like the monsters. There are evenrge cities on Gardania that you will visit," Fireden exined.


    As he did, a new feeling was starting to roll over my body. Revitalization, my body was healing all my torn muscles.


    Anything that had been wrong with me was now repaired, and I felt like I had just woken up from a long and rxing sleep. I was now slowly absorbing the power from Fireden, and it was repairing my body, but I wondered what would happen to the Energy that went to my system?


    "What is the Energy going to do for me? You know what my system is, right? I can only support the girls that I choose to help, so I will assume that will just make me do that better?" I asked skeptically.


    "I am not really sure about that, not my area of expertise," Fireden said with a frown and then scratched his chin as he thought about it.


    <The system will give you Special Drops if you get overcharged, and some of them will be items or equipment. The system will require that you stay alive or that you keep the girls alive, so you will have to live with those bonuses.>


    Yes, I would be okay with getting some armor or something, and maybe a primary weapon that didn''t involve an element or backtalk.


    "So, something on this ind is blocking me from being able to hear the rest of the Elements?" I asked to skip over myst question.


    "The Great Demon Doa is the one that sealed off the ind using a special artifact that he constructed. It is hidden somewhere in the center of the ind, but there is no way to target it or find it; we have tried many times. Doa ced it there to stop the interference from the ind. By that time, all the monster herds had beenpletely thinned out. Now our best hope is to get off this ind and get back to Gardania. Once we are back there, we will help you find a ce to settle down, and then we can work on the other two Elemental Forces," Fireden exined to me, but as he did, he started to shrink down.


    I slowly stood up and started to walk forward to Fireden, that was slowly standing up after crawling up from the edge. We were the same size now, and theva pulled back from me as I walked forward.


    Fireden had a new orange glow to him, and I knew what this meant, but I paused before reaching up to touch his chest. Now that I knew who this was, I was more than likely to meet; how should I treat him?


    <Answer him truthfully; you don''t even have to speak; he will know what your answer is if he asks you the question.>


    I could do that. There was nothing left to do but reach forward, and I ced my hand on Fireden''s burning chest. Then I was in the ce of two suns, floating with Fireden, who began to speak to me.


    "What makes your soul worthy? You may ask one question if you speak it. Bear all unto me, for I wish to know thy essence. I am Time. What you were, does not matter. Who you are, is my question. What you shall be is my judgment."